Partners in Crime-Eddie Munson x OC

Chapter 26

*Warnings: mention/depiction of blood and injuries*

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Dustin and I stood sobbing in Eddie's living room, Eddie having just severed our tie with the Upside Down and leaving to go fend off the bats alone. He wouldn't make it alone. There was no way. When the five of us went down after Steve, we all could barely hold them off.

I had to go back.

I slid Eddie's ring onto my thumb and pointed to the other side of the mattress. "Get that end!"

Dustin rushed over and together we flung it out of the way. I dragged over a chair and lined it up under the gate.

"Okay, Henderson. I'm going back to get that dumbass, and you're going to stay here, okay?" I placed my hands on his shoulders and looked him dead in the eyes.

"What? No! If you're going, then I'm going!" He protested.

"Look, Eddie and I are both wanted criminals, so it's not like we have much of a life after this. You do, though. So, you're going to stay here and you're going to get help in the off chance that we make it out alive." I shouted, gently walking him back against the wall.

Once he was out of the way, I dropped my hands. "You're a good kid, Dustin. Good luck out there." I gave him a grin and sprinted toward the chair. I jumped and used it to boost myself up to the gate.

I caught the edge of the gate in the ceiling and put everything I had into pulling myself up. I tried as hard as I could to remember how Steve did his little flip into the Upside Down earlier. With a deep breath, I pulled myself the last little bit until I starting falling down. I kept hold of the ceiling to make it more of a controlled fall, and then I let go and landed in a crouch on the ground. Maybe my stunts as a kid payed off a little, because while it hurt like a bitch, I don't think the fall did any lasting damage.

Before I could stop him, I heard Dustin struggling above me. The little shit hadn't listened to me and was currently climbing up through the gate. I sighed and flung the mattress down to soften his landing. I should've known he wouldn't do what I asked, but I guess some help couldn't hurt anyways.

Dustin fell forward and sprung back up. "I'm sorry, I just had to come with you. Eddie's my friend."

"Well, let's get going then, kid. If he's not dead we get there, you can help me beat his ass for this." I patted Dustin on the shoulder and handed him a spear.

We bolted out the door before we had a chance to chicken out and raced outside.

"Eddie? Eddie?" I screamed, looking around desperately for that familiar head of shaggy hair. "Do you see him?"

"No," Dustin panted. "But he can't have gone far."

I glanced over at our pile of bicycles from earlier. There was one less than there had been before. Damn it, he'd taken a bike and ridden off. Who knew how far he could've gone.

Dustin and I jogged forward, rounding the corner. That's when we heard it. The sound of all the demobats. Listening closer, underneath the screeching, was screams. Eddie's screams.

"Over here! Shit, shit, shit," I grabbed Dustin's arm and pulled him forward as we hurried toward the swarm.

The sight was god-awful. Hundreds of the demobats swirling around, shrieking. In the center of all of them was Eddie. He stood his ground, holding up his shield in defense as the bats flew all around him.

It really hit me then. Eddie fully planned to die here. All his talk about being a coward or running away had led him to this point. Eddie was going to sacrifice himself to prove he wasn't running.

I just wish he knew how brave he actually was. He went back into the Upside Down, something that took guts, and went back to fight. But he didn't have to die for this. He didn't need to prove himself to this town that hated him because he was someone different, someone they could blame. He didn't need to do this alone.

I took off toward him. Who knew what was happening to my cousin back in Hawkins. There was no way I could lose both Max and Eddie in one fell swoop. While I didn't have much control over what happened with Max, I could damn well try and fix things here.

Eddie was fighting desperately up ahead, and Dustin and I were going as fast as we could. Several yards still separated us when the first bat dove down at him.

I watched in horror as Eddie crumpled to the ground and bats swarmed over him. His shouts turned to screams of pain as the bats bit and tore at him.

"EDDIE!!!" I let out a cry as angry tears flooded my cheeks.

I had to get them away from him.

"I'm gonna distract the bats, you go check on, Eddie, okay?" I glanced over at Dustin. "As soon as the leave him and go for me, you go."

Thankfully, Dustin didn't object and we split directions. I went left, picking up Eddie's discarded shield as I jogged to the side.

"Over here, assholes!" I started banging the spear and shield together. "Come and get me!"

The impact created a loud banging that seemingly got the attention of some of the bats. Just a little more, I kept smashing my weapons together as more and more bats began flying toward me.

I didn't incorporate how fast the fuckers could fly into my plan. I barely had time to register that the bats were already on me by the time they got there because of how focused I was on drawing all of them away.

I smacked the first few aside, but one caught my spear the wrong way and snapped it. I resorted to just using the shield to beat them away. Then one got me from behind, claws slicing a line up my back.

Hot blood ran down my back as I let out a scream. I stumbled, but got back up and kept swinging. In my little slip up, however, one dove for my side. Another got my calf. The side of my neck. My left shoulder.

It was getting harder and harder to stand, but I managed to get a glimpse of Dustin. He had made it over to Eddie and was looking back and forth between me and Eddie frantically. They weren't that far, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. Good. I was glad he got him.

I looked up at the sky to see a bat diving down towards my head. My movements were getting sluggish. I didn't think I'd be able to dodge that one, but at least I'd made it this far.

Just before the bat made contact, it fell down at my feet. So did the ones at my sides and the ones behind me. Bats littered the ground, doing no more than making faint chittering noises.

In instant, they'd all fallen down, practically dead  on the ground.